UPDATE: EDS concedes Commbank investigation underway

Outsourcing heavyweight Electronic Data Systems today confirmed an internal investigation was underway into staff at a Commonwealth Bank Sydney data centre amid allegations of software piracy and misbehaviour.An EDS spokeswoman today confirmed the investigation was "purely internal" but declined to add further details other than to say it did not extend to Commonwealth Bank equipment or employees.

An EDS spokeswoman today confirmed the investigation was "purely internal" but declined to add further details other than to say it did not extend to Commonwealth Bank equipment or employees. The incident involved "decommissioned EDS equipment".

The details of the investigation -- alleged to involve unauthorised downloading by EDS staff of material such as porn and games, using the CBA's facilities -- were first leaked to political and social commentary Web site Crikey.com.au by what the site's owner described as "an anonymous hotmailer". The hotmailer described a "raid" on Monday in which an unidentified party entered the building accompanied by sheriffs who ordered staff to "stand up and step back from their desks". However, the EDS spokeswoman said the only participants in the investigation were the company's internal security staff and said the "stand up and step back" report was an "exaggeration".

The investigators allegedly took away servers and other equipment for analysis.
Commonwealth Bank general manager, media and community, Bryan Fitzgerald acknowledged to the Crikey site there was "an EDS investigation into misconduct by EDS (Australia) staff," and reinforced that it did "not involve access to non-EDS information or records".

EDS is in the midst of a 10-year outsourcing deal with the Commonwealth Bank, spanning operations (mainframe, midrange and desktop support), application development, technical education, management consulting, help desk, Internet support and technology planning. The deal, worth, was originally signed in 1997 is worth around AU$1 billion.

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